The travelers have spoken. The top amusement parks in the world are an Orlando-dominated mix, according to Trip Advisor’s 2014 Travelers’ Choice awards. Half the top 10 list is devoted to Floridian attractions, from the splashy, snorkeling fun of dolphin-centric Discovery Cove to the Hogwartsian pleasures of Universal’s Islands of Adventure. Just one California park made the list — Disneyland, of course — but if you’re planning a trip to Brazil, say, or Spain, check out the list.

In remodeling its fleet of 737s, Southwest Airlines has found an ecological — and heartwarming — use for those leather seat covers.

Airline officials are “upcycling” a whopping 43 acres’ worth of leather, and those initiatives will create jobs and send shoes, soccer balls other products to social enterprises that aid families in need, particularly in Africa.

This is what the world’s busiest airport looks like — on an obviously quiet day. (Dorie Turner/AP archives)

… Still Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport.

Yep, it’s a good trivia question. Despite all of the hoopla about Dubai’s airport, the pull of Heathrow and the increasing numbers of Chinese now traveling by air, this Southern U.S. hub reigned again in 2013 as the busiest, according to figures from the Airports Council International.

With its combination of international and national flights, Atlanta handled 94.4 million passengers in 2013 — far and away the most of any airport on the planet.

However, the Middle East’s Dubai is coming on strong, moving up from 10th place to seventh last year. Also showing strong gains in numbers of passengers was Los Angeles International.

Here’s the top 10, along with the percentage increase/decrease from the previous year.

Heads up, culture vultures. There are two major art shows you should know about, and you’ve got plenty of time to schedule a getaway — both are on exhibit for several weeks, and one moves on to Southern California for an extended stay.

– An important exhibit, “African American Art: Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights Era and Beyond,” will be on view at only one West Coast venue, the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento.

Quick, can you spot the eligible millionaire among these visitors strolling around Park Guell in Barcelona? (Raf Casert/AP archives)

If you like to book your vacations based on proximity to eligible millionaires, then this news from SeekingArrangement.com may help increase your odds of meeting one. Or, at the very least, meeting someone posing as an eligible millionaire.

This website, which calls itself “the world’s largest sugar daddy and wealthy dating site,” says it surveyed 9,400 eligible millionaires and found that Barcelona, Spain, topped their list of 2014 summer vacation destinations. That perennial favorite, the Hamptons, came in fourth.

Lest your friends and relatives panic at the prospect of you jetting off for a high-end resort hook-up, SeekingArrangement.com reports that it has redefined “the modern ‘sugar daddy’ as a mentor, sponsor or benefactor who is always respectful, generous and seeking to empower others.” Uh, right.

Not to worry: The famed Keukenhof gardens in the town of Lisse will still bloom every spring. (Anne Chalfant/Staff archives)

Tulips aren’t just for springtime anymore!

That’s the word from the Netherlands, where some entrepreneurs have apparently come to the realization that it’s pretty inconvenient (and not as profitable) for the country’s biggest draw to occur in spring instead of tourist-heavy summer. So they have taken steps to, ahem, extend the season.

A new attraction — Tulip Island, in Amsterdam’s Vondelpark — is awash in blooming color, thanks to “specially prepared ice tulips,” according to a TravPR.com release about the Tulip Experience Foundation. Here, visitors can select, harvest and trade tulips from July through Sept. 7.

Forget those infinity pools you find at hotels and resorts. Sure, they’re pretty, but they’re no comparison to Mother Nature’s impressive lakes, seas, lagoons and other “swimming holes.” The tourism folks at Palau in Micronesia — home to Jellyfish Lake — decided to survey global travelers on the Visit Palua website about other amazing spots.

By the way, you can swim safely in Jellyfish Lake because the jellyfish there have evolved over the millenia to become stingless, officials there say.

Fireworks light up the sky and the Bay Bridge, as seen from Middle Harbor Shoreline Park in Oakland. (Ray Chavez/Staff archives)

Time to plot your strategy for the Fourth of July. Maybe a pancake breakfast at a city park, followed by a parade, some music and family fun, a barbecue … and then wait for fireworks?

You’ll find pancake breakfasts all around the bay. And parades in at least 17 East Bay and South Bay cities. Not a morning person? In Benicia, a torchlight parade will be held the night before Independence Day dawns.

The afternoon of the Fourth, the blues will reign at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton. Palo Alto will celebrate with its annual chili cookoff. And Roaring Camp in Felton will go retro with a 1950s-style sock hop.

Nighttime brings fireworks, some timed to live symphonic music. And San Jose residents can revel in the city’s first major downtown fireworks show in years. Click here for details on those events and more.

On Thursday, Amelia Rose Earhart boards her plane in Oakland for the round-the-world flight. (Kristopher Skinner/Staff)

When your namesake is famed aviator Amelia Earhart, you are destined to fly, right?

Colorado’s Amelia Rose Earhart, 31, never aspired to be a pioneer, let alone a pilot. As our colleague Samantha Clark reports, she grew up embarrassed by the name and went by Amy instead. But after years of fielding questions about flying, she finally decided to earn her pilot’s license. She’s now been flying for a decade.

And, Thursday, after more than a year of planning, she embarked on Earhart’s round-the-world route, leaving from Oakland, just as Earhart did in 1937. Read about her inspiring tale and find out how you can follow her route.